Legacy Knowledge
This is Our Signature Capability
Many appraisers may claim the expertise to
However, only a few have personally handled dozens of examples over decades at the leading auction rooms, and are intimately familiar with the major collectors and curators in the field. They are keenly aware of which market participants are actively acquiring or disposing, and know them well enough to take their call…
Our Team
veteran auction house professionals
Each of our 40 art market categories is advised by at least one former Senior Specialist or Department Head from Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams or Phillips.
Our network also includes
Former and current members of the Vetting Committees of the leading art fairs in Europe and the Americas
Former and current appraisers on the Antiques Roadshow in the US and the UK
Former curators and directors from major American and European museums
Executive Leadership
Martin gammon, president
- Former Head of Business Development & Museum Services for Bonhams Auctioneers, North America
- Senior Specialist on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow since 2008
- Formerly on the faculty of the Philosophy department at Stanford University, and widely published on the philosophy of art
- PhD, UC Berkeley; BA, Cornell University; Visiting Fellow, Wadham College Oxford; Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University
- Member of the Cosmos Club of Washington DC and the Grolier Club of New York
- Patron of the Museum Trustee Association
- Author of Deaccessioning and its Discontents: A Critical History (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018), the first publication on the history of deaccessions by museums since the 18th century
Modern & Contemporary Art
Working with the former Global Heads of the Impressionist & Modern department at a leading auction firm, we facilitated the negotiated auction consignment of a significant Impressionist & Modern art collection, valued at over $40 million, in a competitive bid process with two major international auction firms for the Fall 2017 season, and in the end secured a confidential global guarantee and substantial “hammer bonus” for the East Coast estate.
African Art
· On behalf of a former Ambassador to Nigeria in the 1960s, we arranged for the consignment of a major early oil on canvas by Ben Enwonwu, breaking a record for a painting by this artist at the time and achieving 250% of the pre-sale estimates.
Asian Art
· On behalf of a consignor in Maryland, we arranged for the auction consignment in Hong Kong of a significant vase from the Yongzheng period in China, realizing just over $9.4 million for the client.
· On behalf of an estate with a substantial collection of Japanese decorative arts, we negotiated the donation of a segment of the collection with an appropriate art museum with collecting strengths in the field, as well as the consignment of the remainder at a major auction house, achieving both the philanthropic and fiduciary goals of the decedent for the executors.